1728) Margaret Looney

Margaret Ethel Looney (1904 - 1929). Radium dial painter, one of the first victims of radiation poisoning from working at the Radium Dial Company in Ottawa, Illinois. She began dial-painting aged 17, in part to help earn money for her family. She never left Radium Dial but worked there until just a week before her death, which came on 14 August 1929.

The so-called Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium dials – watch dials and hands with self-luminous paint. The incidents occurred at three factories in the United States: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and one in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s.

After being told that the paint was harmless, the women in each facility ingested deadly amounts of radium after being instructed to "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a fine tip. The women were instructed to point their brushes in this way because using rags or a water rinse caused them to use more time and material, as the paint was made from powdered radium, zinc sulfide (a phosphor), gum arabic, and water.

The Radium Girls had lasting effects on the labor laws in the United States and Europe following numerous lawsuits following deaths and illness from ingestion of radium.

- "She had red hair, was slender, had a voice ever soft, gentle and low, and was prone to giggling fits."   https://www.theradiumgirls.com/the-girls

1727) Arabella Huntington

Arabella Duval Huntington (née Yarrington; c. 1850/1851 – 1924). American philanthropist and once known as the richest woman in the country, as a result of inheritances she received upon the deaths of her husbands. She was the force behind the art collection that is housed at the Huntington Library in California.

She was the second wife of Collis P. Huntington, an American railway tycoon and industrialist. After his death, she married his nephew, Henry E. Huntington, also a railway magnate, and founder of the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California.

- "Her thick, wavy auburn hair cascaded down her back when it wasn’t pinned up."   https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a61730267/alva-vanderbilt-arabella-huntington-gilded-age-feud/

- "Arabella had red hair." https://insidethehuntingtonsstory.com/2021/08/31/arabella-huntingtons-portraits-tiaras-and-jewels/

Portrait by Giovanni Boldini

1726) Alva Belmont

Alva Erskine Belmont (née Smith; 1853 – 1933), known as Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896. American multi-millionaire socialite and women's suffrage activist. 

She was married twice, to socially prominent New York City millionaires William Kissam Vanderbilt, with whom she had three children, and Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont. Alva was known for her many building projects, including the Petit Chateau in New York; the Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island; the Belmont House in New York; Brookholt in Long Island; and Beacon Towers in Sands Point, New York.

- "By the 1870s, Alva was a vivacious young woman educated in Paris, fluent in French culture and admired for her dark red hair and poise." https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/gilded-age-new-york-alva-vanderbilt-secrets-to-success/

- "Her vibrant red hair is crowned with a tiara and she wears a thick rope of pearls rumored to have once belonged to Catherine the Great."  https://www.bookmovement.com/bookDetailView/73906/The-Social-Graces-Ren%C3%A9e-Rosen/1

 

1725) John Humphrey Noyes

John Humphrey Noyes (1811 – 1886). American preacher, radical religious philosopher, and utopian socialist. He founded utopian communities at Putney, Vermont, Oneida, New York, and Wallingford, Connecticut, and is credited with coining the term "complex marriage".

- "Endowed with a ruddy, freckled complexion and a bright red shock of hair, John Humphrey Noyes early gave signs of a passionate nature to match... He was further hampered by the conviction that his red hair and freckles rendered him physically repulsive." https://www.thehistoryreader.com/historical-figures/polly-hayes-noyes/ 

- "Born September 3, 1811, in Brattleboro, Vermont, Noyes was the fourth of nine children, a boy with bright red hair and freckles." https://www.mentalfloss.com/history/charles-guiteau-oneida-community

1724) Ann Gotlib

Ann Gotlib (1971 – disappeared in 1983). Soviet Jewish immigrant to the United States who disappeared at the age of 12 from the premises of a Louisville, Kentucky mall. The case to find her abductor was covered heavily by the Louisville news media and stretched for the next twenty-five years until a person of interest was eventually identified.

Ann was last seen on June 1, 1983, between 5:30 and 6:00 PM. She was visiting Bashford Manor Mall, across the street from the apartment complex where she lived with her family. Her bike was later found outside the Bacon's Department Store at the mall.

Due to the startling way in which Gotlib had vanished in broad daylight without any trace, it was a key case that led the United States Congress to create the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984 to coordinate departments involved in missing-persons cases. The center credits the Gotlib case with increasing national awareness of missing and abducted children and revolutionizing how missing-child cases are handled. One new technique that came out of the investigation was the use of billboards and other tactics to generate widespread awareness of a missing person, which was considered futile according to conventional wisdom at the time.

- "At the time that Ann disappeared, she was 12 years old and was described as having red hair and gray eyes." https://www.lmpd.gov/305/Ann-Gotlib

1723) Austin "Red" Robbins

Austin "Red" Robbins (1944 –  2009). American basketball player.

Robbins, a 6'8" power forward/center from Leesburg, Florida, starred at the University of Tennessee in the 1960s and then played professionally for the American Basketball Association's New Orleans Buccaneers (1967–1970), Utah Stars (1970–1972), San Diego Conquistadors (1972–1973; 1973–1974), Kentucky Colonels (1973; 1974–1975), and Virginia Squires (1975–1976).

- "Robbins was nicknamed for his red hair and perceived fiery personality, and grabbed over 6,000 rebounds in his career." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Robbins

1722) Helen Brach

Helen Marie Brach (née Voorhees; 1911 – disappeared 1977). American multimillionaire widow whose wealth had come from marrying into the E. J. Brach & Sons Candy Company fortune; she endowed the Helen V. Brach Foundation to promote animal welfare in 1974. Brach disappeared on February 17, 1977, and in May 1984 she was declared legally dead, as of the date of her disappearance. An investigation into the case uncovered serious criminal activity associated with Chicago horse stable owners, including Silas Jayne and Richard Bailey. More than a decade later Bailey was charged with, but not convicted of, conspiring to murder Brach; he eventually received a sentence of 30 years after being convicted of defrauding her.

- "Frank took his fortune and retired with his third wife, Helen Brach, a red-haired Appalachian hat-check girl he'd met at a Miami Beach country club." https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2022/11/disappearance-of-candy-lady-helen-brach-unwrapped.html

- "The red-haired beauty was already divorced by age twenty-one, blaming herself for the failure of her marriage to a philandering playboy." https://troytaylorbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-disappearance-of-helen-brach.html

1721) Salvatore "Silvio" Laboroi

 Salvatore "Silvio" Laboroi (1930 - 1945). Italian volunteer in the Xª Flottiglia MAS.

He was born in Aosta Valley. In 1944, he run away from home to join the Xª Flottiglia MAS of the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, but because of his young age he was not enlisted. In December 1944, near the city of Trnovo (today in Slovenia), the Xª Flottiglia MAS fought against the Yugoslavian troops led by Josip Broz Tito, which wanted to take Gorizia away from Italy. 

With the help of a steward, Silvio hid among the crates of biscuits in a supply convoy, thus also reaching Trnovo. Once discovered, the commander decided to let him stay, but he was kept away from the line of fire and assigned to the battalion kitchen. He, however, decided to return to the line of fire. When the commander was wounded, Silvio defended him and was wounded himself. He died three months later.

- "Capelli rossi, come la passione della Patria che lo animò e lo sostenne, occhi intelligenti, intensi e candidi come la sua anima d’adolescente, il suo viso era pieno di lentiggini e quelle erano le uniche macchie che aveva. [Red hair, like the passion for his country that inspired and sustained him, intelligent eyes, intense and candid like his adolescent soul, his face was full of freckles and those were the only blemishes he had.]" https://sullebarricate.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/laboroi-silvio-a-quattordici-anni-caduto-per-lonore-ditalia/

- "Capelli rossicci, viso di lentiggini, occhi intelligenti e intensi. [Reddish hair, freckled face, intelligent and intense eyes]." https://www.italia-rsi.it/cadutiperlarsi/cadutiperlarsi.htm

1720) James Vibert

James Vibert (1872 – 1942). Swiss sculptor and educator. He is known as one of the precursors of the Symbolism movement in Switzerland.

Vibert was educated as an ironworker in Lyon and moved to Paris in 1891, where he joined the atelier of Rodin and where he associated himself with French Symbolism.

After his return to Switzerland he was commissioned for the monumental Three Confederates completed for the Federal Palace of Switzerland in 1914, and was nominated professor of the Geneva University of Art and Design (formerly École des Beaux-Arts de Genève) at Geneva. His former students included Pierre Le Faguays.

Portrait by Ferdinand Hodler, 1915

Portrait by Ferdinand Hodler, 1907

1719) Peter August Böckstiegel

Peter August Böckstiegel (1889 - 1951). German painter, graphic artist and sculptor, in the Expressionistic style.

My Mother and I

Self-portrait

Self-portrait

Self-portrait

1718) Keith Magnuson

Keith Arlen Magnuson (1947 – 2003), Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1969 and 1979.

Magnuson grew up in Wadena, Saskatchewan. His family moved to Saskatoon when he was 10 years old. When he was seventeen he played for the Saskatoon Blades, before he received a hockey scholarship to the University of Denver. Magnuson joined the Chicago Black Hawks for the 1969–70 season and led the league in penalty minutes in his first two seasons. He became an assistant coach for the Black Hawks after retiring in 1979 and was promoted to head coach for the 1980–81 season.

- "Many fans remember the fights and the flowing red hair, but many more remember Keith Magnuson as one of the greatest ambassadors the Chicago Blackhawks franchise has ever had."   https://committedindians.com/keith-magnuson-late-hawks-captain-ties-chicago-denver/

- "... his fiery red hair and his determined countenance always struck me as magnificent. [...] It was here where a red-haired boy named Keith Arlen Magnuson was born on April 27, 1947, the youngest of four children to Joe and Birdie Magnuson."   https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781623683641_A24020601/preview-9781623683641_A24020601.pdf

1717) Myles Standish

Myles Standish 1584 – 1656). English military officer and colonist. 

He was hired as military adviser for Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, United States, by the Pilgrims. Standish accompanied the Pilgrims on the ship Mayflower and played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its foundation in 1620. On February 17, 1621, the Plymouth Colony militia elected him as its first commander and continued to re-elect him to that position for the remainder of his life. Standish served at various times as an agent of Plymouth Colony on a return trip to England, as assistant governor of the colony, and as its treasurer.

- "Examining the remains of the man believed to be Captain Standish, a doctor proclaimed that he had been a man of great physical strength. Hair still remaining on the skull was red and gray."   https://historicaldigression.com/2014/05/10/digging-up-myles-standish-thrice/

1716) Gerhard Schaschke

Gerhard Kurt Erwin Schaschke (1911 - 1941). German air ace during WWII. He was born in Dresden.

His favorite tactic was to have a few Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters flying over a Soviet airbase as bait. When the enemy scrambled their planes, he slipped in behind them at treetop level and shot them down on takeoff. In just six weeks, his score rose to about 20 kills (the sources differ on the final number, but a photo of the tail fin shows 20 kill marks prior to his last fight), earning him the Iron Cross, 1st class. He also sunk three ships. Schaschke’s luck ran out on 4 August 1941. He got into a fight with LaGG-3s of the 145th Fighter Aviation Regiment southeast of Murmansk, reportedly shooting down two enemy aircraft before himself being shot down by captain Aleksandr Zaytsev.

In 1937 he had married Isolde Lucia Wilhelmine Riedel.

- "SCHASCHKE, Gerhard (“Ryzhyy”, i.e.“carrots”, a reference to his red hair)."   https://www.ww2.dk/Lw%20Offz%20-%20S-Z%20Apr%202021.pdf

- "Hauptmann Schaschke soon became well known and earned a special hatred among his adversaries. They even gave him a nickname, “Ryzhyy” (“Red-Hair,” or more correctly, “Carrots”)."   https://ourairports.biz/?p=6124

1715) Marjorie West

Marjorie West (1933 - ?). American child who went missing from McKean County, Pennsylvania on May 8, 1938. Her disappearance was heavily covered by both local and national media, but her whereabouts have never been ascertained.

On May 8, 1938, Marjorie, along with her parents, 7-year-old brother Allan and 11-year-old sister Dorothea, attended a church in Bradford, Pennsylvania. After they attended the church, they went to Marshburg, Pennsylvania for a picnic to celebrate Mother's Day. Dorothea left Marjorie alone while she spoke to her mother. When Dorothea went back to Marjorie, she had disappeared and was never seen again. Her parents called the police, but the police found no evidence of Marjorie's whereabouts. 

In 2010, a local publisher, Harold Thomas Beck, claimed to have solved the mystery by identifying Marjorie with Sylvia Waldrop London. She eventually admitted that her mother confessed on her deathbed to her husband having stolen her from a park, and that she had remembered the names Dorothea and Allan from childhood. 

- "Dorothea and Marjorie, a red-haired girl who was dressed like Shirley Temple (in the style of the time), picked violets together."  https://carenlissner.medium.com/the-still-unsolved-mystery-of-a-little-girl-who-vanished-in-1938-7f9d6edeee04

- "... another day had passed without finding the little red-haired four-year-old, Marjorie West. [...]  Police began circulating a poster describing Marjorie’s “curley” red hair, freckles, red Shirley Temple hat and patent leather shoes." https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/26/missing-marjorie-west 

1714) James "Shanghai" Kelly

James Kelly, better known as "Shanghai" Kelly. American crimp of the 19th century who kidnapped men and forced them to work on ships. The terms "crimping" and "shanghaiing" are used to describe this type of work. A legendary figure in San Francisco history, Kelly was known for supplying or shanghaiing men to understaffed ships.

Kelly kept a boarding house in San Francisco. He also ran a number of bars and a saloon. These businesses provided Kelly with a steady supply of victims.

In the early 1870s, Kelly was reported to have shanghaied 100 men for three understaffed ships in a single evening. 

Actor Robert Taylor played Kelly in the 1967 episode "Shanghai Kelly's Birthday Party" of the syndicated television series Death Valley Days, which Taylor also hosted.

The Irish music band Gaelic Storm released a song about Kelly, entitled "Shanghai Kelly", on the 2017 album Go Climb a Tree.

- "Kelly wore a red beard and had a fiery temper to match."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kelly_(crimper) 

- "Shanghai Kelly was a dumpy little man. He had a mass of riotous red hair, and a huge red beard. He had fury written all over his ugly face." https://www.realsanfranciscotours.com/crime-seen-san-franciscos-barbary-coast/ 

Source

1713) Thutmose IV

Thutmose IV. 8th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled in approximately the 14th century BC. He was the son of Amenhotep II and Tiaa and the grandfather of Akhenaten.

The currently preferred reconstruction usually comes to an accession date around 1401 BC or 1400 BC for the beginning of Thutmose IV's reign. The length of his reign is not clear, but today most scholars ascribe him a 10-year reign from 1401 to 1392 BC, within a small margin of error.

- "His hair, which is parted in the middle, is about 16 cm (6.3 in) long and dark reddish-brown."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_IV#Burial_and_mummy 

(As usual with many Egyptian mummies, it is not clear whether Thutmose IV's hair was naturally red/brown of if this colour was a consequence of the henna used during the embalming. A simple examination of hair roots would solve the mystery)

Statue of Thutmose IV and his mother Tiaa.

1712) Erich Mühsam

Erich Mühsam (1878 – 1934). German antimilitarist anarchist essayist, poet and playwright. He emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a federated Bavarian Soviet Republic, for which he served five years in prison.

Also a cabaret performer, he achieved international prominence during the years of the Weimar Republic for works which, before Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, condemned Nazism and satirized the future dictator. Mühsam was tortured and murdered in the Oranienburg concentration camp in 1934.

- "... bushy red hair and wild red beard crowding an emaciated face; scrawny body and wiry fingers."   https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1942&context=bts 

Portrait by Auguste Herbin

1711) George Owen Wynne Apperley

George Owen Wynne Apperley (1884-1960). British painter, described as “one of the finest” of the late Romantic artists.

In 1917 he moved to Spain, abandoning his British wife, Hilda Pope, and family, and established in the district of Granada. He was forced to leave Spain in 1932, when his conservative political stance regarding the Second Spanish Republic led to the bombing of his house. He moved with his second family, his muse and later wife, Enriqueta Contreras and their two sons, to Tangier, Morocco.

Self-portrait (1915)

1710) Stanisław Wyspiański

Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (1869 – 1907). Polish playwright, painter, poet, and interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created symbolic national dramas accordant with the artistic premises of the Young Poland movement.

Wyspiański was one of the most outstanding and multifaceted artists in Poland under the foreign partitions, and combined modernism with traditional Polish folk and Romantic themes.

 Wyspiański's artistic output is very eclectic. Among dramas and poetry, there are views of Cracow (drawings, sketch-books, oil-paintings, pastel drawings), portraits and self-portraits, designs of stained glass windows and paintings, illustrations, graphic art, and designs for furniture and interiors.

1709) Józef Mehoffer

Józef Mehoffer (1869 – 1946). Polish painter and decorative artist, one of the leading artists of the Young Poland movement and one of the most revered Polish artists of his time.

Mehoffer studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, and later at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and in Paris, at the Académie Colarossi. There Mehoffer began painting portraits, often of people of historical significance. He later expanded his work to include different techniques, such as graphic art, stained glass, textiles, chalk drawings, etchings and book illustrations. He produced set designs for theatre, and stylized furniture designs.

Mehoffer received international acclaim for his stained glass windows in the Gothic St Nicholas Collegiate Church in Fribourg, Switzerland produced in 1895–1936. He also produced many stained glasses for several churches in Poland and Austria. Mehoffer explored various media further throughout his career to include a range of applied arts in his projects. He manufactured a multiplicity of book covers, ornaments and posters. Mehoffer – aside from his versatility in studio art – became known for his frescoes often reminiscent of medieval art. 

In September 1899, Mehoffer married Jadwiga Janakowska, whom he had met five years earlier in Paris. They had a son, Zbigniew (1900–1985). Janakowska was the artist's muse and frequently posed for his portrait paintings.

Portrait by Stanisław Wyspiański 

1708) Marie Thérèse Zakrzewska

Marie Thérèse Zakrzewska, also known as Ata or Ama (1880? - 1920). Polish artists' model and noblewoman.

She was born (probably in Krakòw) into an aristocratic family and had a younger sister, Natalia. They were both known for their beauty. 

Ata was the favourite sitter of the painter Teodor Axentowicz, who made her famous in all artistic circles of Poland.

In 1903 she married Italian politician Alessandro Tasca Filangeri, Principe di Cutò (1874 - 1943), who was called "il principe rosso" (the red prince) because of his socialist ideas. The couple had two children: Gioia and Alessandro. One of Filangeri's sisters, Beatrice, was the mother of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, author of the novel Il Gattopardo (The Leopard). 

Ata Zakrzewska and her daughter Gioia

Wiosna (The Spring), by Teodor Axentowicz

Rudowłosa (The Redhead), by Teodor Axentowicz

Poster for the 2nd exhibition of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka"  

1707) Joseph Noel Paton

Sir Joseph Noel Paton (1821 – 1901). Scottish artist, illustrator and sculptor. He was also a poet and had an interest in, and knowledge of, Scottish folklore and Celtic legends.

He was the brother of the sculptor Amelia Robertson Hill and the landscape artist Waller Hugh Paton.

Most of his life was spent in Scotland, but he studied briefly at the Royal Academy, London in 1843. While studying in London, Paton met John Everett Millais, who asked him to join the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The invitation was turned down by Paton, although he painted in the Pre-Raphaelite style and became a painter of historical, fairy, allegorical and religious subjects.

Paton became an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1847 and was made a Fellow in 1850. In 1865, he was appointed Queen's Limner for Scotland. He also published two volumes of poetry and produced a number of sculptures. Two years later he received a knighthood.

- "Paton had bright red hair and was known for his great physical strength."   https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/3454/sir-joseph-noel-paton-1821-1901-artist

- "He was, in fact, a man of great presence, with startlingly red bushy hair, and "almost Herculean in breadth of shoulder and depth of chest". https://victorianweb.org/sculpture/hill/2.html

1706) Chuck Norris

Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (1940 – 2026). American martial artist, actor, screenwriter, and author. He held black belts in karate, taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, he won numerous martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. Norris began working in the American film industry as a martial arts instructor for celebrities before making his screen debut with a minor role in The Wrecking Crew (1968). Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in The Way of the Dragon (1972). While Norris continued acting, friend and student Steve McQueen suggested he take it seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! (1977), which turned a profit. His second lead, Good Guys Wear Black (1978), became a hit, and he soon became a popular action film star.

His mother was of Irish ancestry, while his father had German, British, and distant Cherokee roots.

- ""My hair was always this color," Norris says "reddish-brown, and when I did the Bruce Lee movie in '72, `Return of the Dragon,' I looked at my hair and I thought, `That's kind of a bland color. I think I'll dye it blond.' " https://www.roundhouseroulette.com/episodes/b11

- "Chuck Norris’s red hair is not the type where you call him ginger to make him feel upset."   https://ogrenjackson.medium.com/ginger-superstars-e11f23428ff7

1705) Ilka Gedő

 Ilka Gedő (1921 – 1985). Hungarian painter and graphic artist.

In the first stage of her career, which came to an end in 1949, she created a huge number of drawings (especially self-portraits), that can be divided into various series. From 1950 on, Gedő did not take part in art life. Her interests turned to the philosophy of art, art history and colour theory and translated extensive passages from Goethe's theory of colours. From 1964 on, she resumed her artistic activities creating oil paintings.

 In 1946, she married the biochemist Endre Bíró, from whom she had two sons.

- "Ilka told me that she inherited her red hair from a distant aunt."  https://hal.science/hal-03197602v1/file/gender_memory_and_judaism.pdf

- "The only thing I do regret, however, is a drawing made in red chalk depicting Ilka Gedő with her red hair that hung to her shoulder." https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/D%C3%A1vid_B%C3%ADr%C3%B3--Ilka_Ged%C5%91-The_Painter_and_Her_Work.pdf

Self-portrait

Self-portrait

1704) Uri Zvi Greenberg

Uri Zvi Greenberg (also spelled Uri Zvi Grinberg). Israeli poet, journalist and politician who wrote in Yiddish and Hebrew.

Widely regarded among the greatest poets in the country's history, he was awarded the Israel Prize in 1957 and the Bialik Prize in 1947, 1954 and 1977, all for his contributions to fine literature. Greenberg is considered the most significant representative of modernist Expressionism in Hebrew and Yiddish literature.

He was born in Galicia (modern-day Ukraine) and moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1924. He joined the Revisionist camp in 1930 and after 1948 joined Menachem Begin's Herut movement. Greenberg was elected to the first Knesset, but lost his seat in the two years later.After the Six-Day War, he joined the Movement for Greater Israel, which advocated Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. Scholar Dan Tamir considers Greenberg's ideology among the most prominent historical examples of "Hebrew fascism."

- "His red hair is aflame. His green eyes spit fire. His thin body sways like a storm-tossed tree."   https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/pft.2009.29.1.31

Portrait by Reuven Rubin

Portrait by Siona Tagger

1703) Jadwiga of Poland

Jadwiga (1373 or 1374 – 1399), also known as Hedwig. First female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland, as well as its last hereditary ruler. She reigned from 16 October 1384 until her death. Born in Buda, she was the youngest daughter of Louis I of Hungary and Poland and his wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. 

In 1386 she married Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, who took the Catholic baptismal name Władysław, Jadwiga died due to postpartum complications and as her only daughter predeceased her, the Queen was the last hereditary monarch of Poland. With her death, the throne of Poland became elective. 

In 1997, she was canonized by the Catholic Church.

- "Jadwiga was said to have been tall and beautiful with red hair."   https://www.galwaycathedral.ie/news/saint-month-st-jadwiga#:~:text=Jadwiga%20was%20said%20to%20have,establish%20a%20department%20of%20Theology.

Effigy of Jadwiga on her seal

1702) Faustina Kowalska

Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament (born Helena Kowalska; 1905 – 1938). Polish Catholic religious sister and mystic. Faustyna, popularly spelled Faustina in English, had apparitions of Jesus Christ which inspired the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy, therefore she is sometimes called the "secretary" of Divine Mercy.

Throughout her life, Kowalska reported having visions of Jesus and conversations with him, which she noted in her diary, later published as The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul. 

At the age of 20 years, she joined a convent in Warsaw. She was later transferred to Płock and then to Vilnius. The Catholic Church canonized Kowalska as a saint on 30 April 2000. Her tomb is in the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, Kraków, where she spent the end of her life.

- "A red-haired, bouncing Polish baby girl named Helen certainly did when she was born 119 years ago today into the home of a poor, peasant family who had its priorities straight."   https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/happy-119th-birthday-st-faustina#:~:text=It%20helps%20to%20have%20a,who%20had%20its%20priorities%20straight.

- "I discovered a red-haired and freckled young woman who, before entering the convent, loved to dress fashionably!" https://www.radiantmagazine.com/2019/02/18/my-friend-st-faustina/ 

Helena Kowalska before entering the convent

Portrait painting of Faustina Kowalska